Sony didn't realize it at the time, but it was laying the groundwork for the next decade of laptops with the VAIO X505. The 10-inch system was so feather-light and slender that it was easy to take anywhere, much like a netbook or Ultrabook; if it weren't for the astronomical $2,999 price tag, it would have started a mobile computing revolution.

The ThinkPad T43 was the swan song for an era of computing when laptops were primarily for globetrotting professionals. One of the last PCs to bear the IBM name before Lenovo closed its acquisition of IBM's PC business, it represented everything good about the ThinkPad badge: it was fast, well-built and relatively easy to carry in a briefcase.

Dell had built up a reputation for high-performance PCs well before 2006, but the XPS 700 was the system to own that year if you wanted a gaming desktop from a major brand. Its aggressive design still holds up today, and it was often as powerful as custom-built rigs. It was a dream machine at a time when serious gaming usually required a giant tower.

The Eee PC 701 marked the official start of the netbook craze, which lasted until the iPad's arrival in 2010. Its screen, speed and storage were very modest even when new, but it showed that you didn't need a big, expensive portable just to check your email at the coffee shop.

The archetypal Ultrabook. While it wasn't without its quirks, the MacBook Air successfully bridged the gap between ultraportables and full laptops; it was fast enough for most tasks, but light enough that you'd hardly notice it in your bag.

While HP's Firebird line wasn't perfect by any stretch, it showed how efficient desktops had become; you could get a reasonably quick, ready-made gaming PC that both looked good and didn't swallow up too much surface area. It's arguably the prototype for the small-yet-strong Steam Machines that would follow five years later.

Although the iMac is virtually synonymous with all-in-one computers, Lenovo's sleekly designed IdeaCentre A300 was proof that Apple didn't have a complete lock on the category. Rather than glom the computer on to the A300's back, Lenovo put it in the base; the A300 looked like it was simply an attractive desktop display, and fit into just about any environment.

Unlike the other PCs here, the Chromebook Series 5's real revolution was its software -- with Chrome OS, both Google and Samsung were betting that you only needed a web browser for most of your day-to-day computing. That was optimistic on a slow, Atom-based machine circa 2011, but the Series 5 helped launch a wave of stripped-down, affordable laptops that could do a lot without relying on conventional apps.

Apple's 2012 MacBook Pro redesign was just an iterative upgrade in some ways, but it was also a bellwether for where laptop design would go. It's not just that extra-sharp Retina display; it was also one of the first high-end, full-size laptops to ditch both optical discs and hard drives in the name of both an easier-to-carry body and faster, flash-based storage.

Windows 8's touch-friendly prompted a flood of PCs that tried to be everything to everyone, and that's epitomized in Acer's one-of-a-kind Aspire R7. Depending on the position of the display, the R7 could serve as a desktop, laptop or tablet. It wasn't especially good at any of these, but it revealed how nervous PC makers were about losing business to mobile devices.

If you want a shining symbol of how much PCs have changed in the past 10 years, you only need to look at Microsoft's latest flagship device, the Surface Pro 3. So long as you get its (practically mandatory) keyboard cover, it blurs the lines between tablet and laptop -- it's as useful for watching movies on the couch as it is for heavy-duty media editing on your desk.